Entertainment Review

Gord Downie, Secret Path

Gord Downie has spent three decades chronicling and commemorating the history and mystery of Canada.

But the Tragically Hip frontman’s fifth (and perhaps final) solo album is no cause for celebration — it’s a grim remembrance of a shamefully overlooked national disgrace.

Secret Path, due Oct. 18, is a concept album that recounts the sad death of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old indigenous boy who died of exposure and hunger beside a railway line after running away from a residential school in Kenora, Ont., 50 years ago this week. It’s a disturbing story that Downie has said “haunts” him. “His story is Canada’s story,” the 52-year-old singer wrote in a statement. “This is about Canada. We are not the country we thought we were … We are not the country we think we are.”

Downie hasn’t been shy lately in voicing concern over the treatment of Canada’s Indigenous people and Northern residents. But his fascination with Wenjack’s story isn’t new. Secret Path was actually recorded in late 2013 with producers Kevin Drew and Dave Hamelin (who also helmed the Hip’s Man Machine Poem). Its release was presumably delayed while graphic novelist Jeff Lemire turned it into a book that accompanies the album, which led to an animated special airing on CBC Oct. 23.

It was well worth the wait. Deeply moving and artfully experimental, Secret Path is not only Downie’s most focused solo effort, it may be the most relevant work of his career (and that’s saying something). Along with bringing Wenjack’s tale into the public eye, the disc is a fundraiser for The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. And even though he continues to battle terminal brain cancer — and just wrapped the Hip’s farewell tour in August — the project is important enough to lure him back onstage for two Secret Path shows this week in Ottawa and Toronto.

Between all that — and the slew of well-deserved awards he’s likely to amass for this — maybe there’s cause for celebration after all. But first, let’s survey Secret Path’s 10 songs:

Over a dark acoustic guitar, twinkling piano notes and ringing chords, we are introduced to Chanie — and his alienation — as he flees his residential school. “I am the stranger, you can’t see me,” Downie proclaims. “And what I’m feeling is anyone’s guess.”

2 | Swing Set 3:20

We flash back to the playground as Chanie and two classmates prepare to run while the teacher is distracted. “‘Now?’ I asked. ‘Not yet,’ you said,” Gord sings atop noisy rock and squiggly sonics that underscore the tension — and geese that honk as the boys fly.

3 | Seven Matches 3:31

Given to Chanie by a woman whose family sheltered him, a jar with seven matches comforts the runaway — though their number dwindles as the song progresses. For his part, Gord’s falsetto vocal is matched with his gently strummed guitar and a softly chugging beat.

4 | I Will Not Be Struck 4:02

“I’m not going back,” Downie sings near the top of his register, communicating Chanie’s resolve as he ventures into the wilderness along the tracks. Another thumpy beat, a nimble bassline and some understated electric guitar make the cut surprisingly upbeat.

5 | Son 3:17

“Don’t stop wishing what you wish,” Downie sings, apparently voicing sentiments of Chanie’s dad. It’s hard to tell whether this one is sung from the father’s perspective, or if Chanie is reminiscing. Perhaps fittingly, it’s a shapeshifting number that builds from ambient tones to swelling chords and ominous bass drops.

6 | Secret Path 4:12

Freezing rain and ice pellets begin to fall, leaving Chanie woefully unprotected in his jacket. “It’s a windbreaker, it’s not a jean jacket,” Downie wails over a grim low-end piano ballad. “I am soaked to the skin. There’s never been a colder rain than this one I’m in.”

7 | Don't Let This Touch You 5:05

Chanie tries to stay strong, but begins to lose resolve. “Words don’t make the rain go,” Downie laments as the song toggles between quiet verses with swooping basslines and explosive, soaring refrains.

8 | Haunt Them, Haunt Them, Haunt Them 5:02

Driven by a tense beat and stabbing bass, the music parallels Chanie’s growing fear. “I think I’m in despair, the wind is in the trees, basically just waiting for something to come along and eat me,” Downie spits out. As the song builds, Chanie has a vision of a raven who offers a solution: “What you can’t escape you’ve got to embrace.”

9 | The Only Place To Be 2:55

“I’ll just close my eyes, I’ll just catch my breath,” Gord sings as Chanie surrenders to his fate over a tender, Wilco-esque number decorated with squiggles and puffs of breath. As the wolves approach, the music slowly swells.

10 | Here, Here and Here 4:11

A piano line slowly takes shape amid buzzing, ringing, swooping and droning tones as Chanie seemingly speaks from beyond: “I hurt here, here and here … I died here, here and here.” Otherworldly voices enter the scene as a quiet rhythm comes to a final stop.